Gil Scott-Heron: Five of his best songs

Music lovers around the world were shocked to hear of the sudden death of Gil Scott-Heron yesterday at the age of 62. Richard Russell, who was the musician and poet's label manager at XL Recordings, described him as "a father figure of sorts," adding that "[he] was not perfect in his own life. But neither is anyone else... he judged no-one".

His distinctive, poetic style and no-holds-barred approach to the subject matter in his songs endeared him to many and inspired musicians across rap, soul and contemporary hip-hop. Here are five of his finest moments:

1. The Revolution Will Not Be TelevisedOriginally recorded in 1970 for the live album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, this is perhaps Scott-Heron's best known work. Namechecking contemporary figures including then-US president Richard Nixon, civil rights leader Whitney Young, Johnny Cash, Tom Jones and numerous slogans from advertisements of the era, it was reportedly banned by some American radio stations for its provocative lyrical content. The track also made it into a New Statesman list of the 20 greatest political songs just last year.

Here's the man himself explaining the inspiration behind the track in his own words:

2. Pieces of a ManSpoken word musician and poet Scroobius Pip also paid tribute to Scott-Heron. Writing on his official Twitter page, he said that this number is "literally in my top two or three songs ever written", adding that he considered Gil to be "a true legend and one of my biggest influences". It appears on the 1971 album of the same name - Scott-Heron's first studio LP.

3. The BottleThe sole single from Scott-Heron's 1974 long-player Winter in America, 'The Bottle' features stinging social commentary on the dark side of alcoholism, neatly juxtaposed with a memorable flute hook from long-time collaborator Brian Jackson. The track has been sampled by numerous contemporary artists over the years, including De la Soul. This live performance is from a show in Paris last year.

4. We Almost Lost DetroitTaken from the 1977 album Bridges, 'We Almost Lost Detroit' addresses the partial nuclear meltdown of Fermi 1 in 1966. The nuclear plant, which was ultimately decommissioned in 1972, featured the first commercial 'breeder reactor' in the US, a kind of reactor which generates more nuclear fuel than it consumes. Here's a performance of the track from a London show in 1990:

5. Me and the DevilAfter a career hiatus during which Scott-Heron spent time in jail for drugs possession, he made a comeback in 2010 with critically-acclaimed new album I'm New Here, his first studio album in 16 years. 'Me and the Devil' shows that while he may have updated his sound, he was still full of the same soul and lyrically frank attitude he possessed at the very start of his career.